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Project Instructions
This collection contains patient records from various state-run hospitals and schools located in Minnesota. You may encounter patients from states other than Minnesota and will need to enter the state in the Residence State field. The Residence State field should only be keyed if it is a state other than Minnesota. Residence counties may appear at the top of an image. If the county listed at the top of the image is not specifially stated as the location of the hospital, it should be keyed as the residence county to all records on the image.

Many records will not record the patient's birth date; in these cases enter the Age of the individual. If the birth date is available, the age should not be keyed.

Discharge dates should only be keyed when no admittance date is available. This will typically occur on images where the records are organized by date rather than by patient.

When you encounter an image with patient information but no names are listed, the image should be classified as a Hospital Record Page 2 form type.

Hospital Record

Choose the "Hospital Record" form type when the image contains names of patients admitted and discharged from the hospital. It will typically also include information about the patient. Images that contain only names and page numbers should be classified as "Index."

Additional Image Samples

Prefix

Key any titles before the given name, such as "Dr," "Rev," "Mr" or "Mrs," as seen on the image using the dictionary provided to assist you. Key only names of those admitted or discharged from the hospital.

Given

Key the first name or initial and any middle names as seen on the record using the dictionary provided to assist you. Initials should be keyed with a space between them and without entering the periods. Key only names of those admitted or discharged from the hospital.

Surname

Key the surname as seen on the record using the dictionary provided to assist you. Key only names of those admitted or discharged from the hospital.

Suffix

Key all titles, such as "Jr" or "III," following the surname as seen on the record using the dictionary provided to assist you. Key only names of those admitted or discharged from the hospital.

Residence City

Key the residence city from the residence information portion of the record as seen on the image using the dictionary provided to assist you. If "Twp", "Tsp", "Tp" appears after the residence city, key as seen. The residence of an individual is where they typically reside, and not the location of the hospital.

Residence County

Key the residence county from the residence information portion of the record as seen on the image using the dictionary provided to assist you. The residence county will typically be denoted by "Co." or "County", or written on a line designated for county. Do not key "County", "Co" or any other abbreviation meaning county. The residence of an individual is where they typically reside, and not the location of the hospital.

Residence State

Key the state in its full form using the dictionary provided to assist you. Only key a residence state if a state other than Minnesota is recorded. If there is no state recorded or the state is recorded as Minnesota, leave this field blank.

Admittance Day

Key the day from the admittance date.

Admittance Month

Key the month of the admittance date in its three-letter abbreviation using the dictionary provided to assist you.

Admittance Year

Key the year from the admittance date. "YEARS should be entered as 4-digit years when possible. If the year on the image is only 2 digits please try to determine what century the event occurred in. There is typically information on the image that will assist you in determining if it is 2008 vs 1008. If you are unable to determine the century please key the two digit year"

Gender

Key the gender in its full form using the dictionary provided to assist you.

Age

Key the age of the individual only when no birth year is recorded. If a birth year is recorded on the image, then the age field should be left empty.

Birth Place

Key the birth place as seen on the image using the dictionary provided to assist you. Geographical locations should be separated with a comma, such as "Plymouth, Minnesota." Do not key the word County or Co.

Do not substitute nationality for birth place. If only a nationality is shown the field should be left blank.

Birth Day

Key the day from the birth date when available.

Birth Month

Key the month from the birth date when available in its three-letter abbreviation using the dictionary provided to assist you.

Birth Year

Key the year from the birth date when available. "YEARS should be entered as 4-digit years when possible. If the year on the image is only 2 digits please try to determine what century the event occurred in. There is typically information on the image that will assist you in determining if it is 2008 vs 1008. If you are unable to determine the century please key the two digit year"

Discharge Day

Key the day from the discharge date. Only key discharge dates if there is no admittance date available.

Discharge Month

Key the month from the discharge date in its three-letter abbreviation using the dictionary provided to assist you. Only key discharge dates if there is no admittance date available.

Discharge Year

Key the year from the discharge date. Only key discharge dates if there is no admittance date available.

Keying Image Samples

If you encounter locations that you know are not in order please enter them in order of smallest geographic area to largest.

When you encounter records such as this the county at the top of the page should be keyed as the Residence County.

Hospital Record Page 2

Choose the "Hospital Record Page 2" form type when the image is the right side page of a book that contains information, but no names of individuals that were admitted into the hospital.

Index

Choose the "Index" form type when the image is of an internal index, containing only a person's name and a page number.

Additional Image Samples

Cover page, Section header, etc.

Use the “Cover page, Section header, etc” type for images that don’t contain any data, but might be interesting to look at because they provide some type of context for the image set. For instance, historical notes, affidavits, and so forth.

Image with no data

Use the “Image with no data” type for images that don’t contain any data or any useful context that might be interesting for someone to look at. For instance, an image containing only the blank background or an image with a microfilm target on it.